4K Video issue with Emby Synology DS215j and LG Smart TV

[Romiche013 2]

Hello Guys,

@@SamES

 

I recently switch from Kodi (and previously Plex) to Emby when I bought a new LG OLED65C9 smart TV.

With my old Full HD TV, I used Kodi only to watch 720p or 1080p movies.

Now, As you can imagine, I tried to watch 4K movies with the new TV.

 

Here is my config :

Synology NAS DS215j connected directly to my router with RJ45

Emby Server package installed in my NAS (Version 4.4.2.0)

Smart TV connected with RJ45 to a 100 Mb switch wich is conneted to my router via CPL.

Emby client is the Emby App available in LG WebOS.

 

I Have no problem watching 720p or 1080p movies. Everything works perfectly.

But, with each 4K movies I tried to watch, I have always the same issue : 

I have a black screen on my TV, and my NAS is completely frozen. I can't do anything on it.

Before launching playback, NAS usage is approximatively 15% Proc, and 50 - 60% RAM.

When I try to play the video, NAS usage is 30% proc and 90% RAM.

I am forced to turn off my NAS directly from the physical button, and then turn on again.

 

I know this is an old NAS, with poor capabilities, but is there any way to play 4K movies with this config ?

By the way, I also tried the same movies with Plex, and have pretty much the same issue (NAS frozen), even if I have some images from time to time (2 seconds playback and then several minutes of buffering).

 

Note : the same movie is perfectly played if plugged directly in the TV from a USB Drive.

 

I attached my Emby Server logs in case it can help.

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

embyserver.txt

ffmpeg-transcode.txt

ffmpeg-transcode_1.txt

hardware-detection.txt

[rbjtech 4222]

Without even looking at them - the fact you have transcode logs means your NAS is having to do transcoding and it simply is not powerful enough to do it - so it hangs it.

 

The only way you are going to get 4K on your shiny C9 is to get them to direct play.

 

You need to - a) make sure you select a non HD Audio track (ie no TrueHD) and b ) No embedded PGS subtitles.

 

The C9 cannot play HD Audio tracks (lots of threads on this - look in the LG Client section...) nor can it play PGS subs.  The inbuilt player (which emby uses) automatically jumps to the next available audio track without informing you - that is why it direct plays via USB, BUT emby tries to be clever and attempts to transcode the HD Audio but currently it doesn't work too well...  So just select the track yourself before pressing play and you should be good - ie the AC3 (Dolby Digital) or DTS Audio track.  Note DTS-HD is ok - because there is a non HD Core embedded in it, and it will play that instead - it's just TrueHD that causes the issues.

 

If you need subs then you can get around by just using external .SRT files - they work perfectly.  Use Emby to grab them or generate yourself.

Edited May 23, 2020 by rbjtech

[Romiche013 2]

Thanks a lot @@rbjtech for your answer.

 

I tried a non HD audio track with no subs and it played perfectly.

 

So, if my understanding is correct, the problem is on the TV side, which is not able to decode HD audio tracks, nor plays subs.

I didn't know the player Emby is using is the inbuilt one.

 

Before buying my C9, I was hesitating with Philips 65OLED804 (I'm a huge fan of Ambilight), running Android TV. The problem would have been the same ? 

 

By the way, I have audio from a home cinema amplifier, plugged in the TV with an Toslink cable (my amplifier is too old for ARC, but is capable of reading HD audio tracks - which Toslink doesn't support). Do I have a way to overcome the audio problem ? (an ARC compliant amplifier is my next buy I think)

 

Last question : if I consider changing my NAS with a DS218, or 218+, will it be powerfull enough to transcode without any problem ?

 

anyway, thanks again for your help, I won't need to copy on external drive for non HD tracks now

[rbjtech 4222]

Glad it's working - have a look at the LG area as there are long running threads on this.

 

In summary, your TV is capable of HD Audio - it has eARC (note, not ARC - eARC must be via HDMI) BUT no player via WebOS (ie internal) appears to be capable of reading HD Audio and passing it OUT to an external eARC enabled amplifier.

 

The Philips may be able to do this.  I know the only confirmed device capable of playing HD-Audio/Atmos is the Nvidia Shield.

 

Re the NAS - sorry not my area of experience - but I will say that wherever possible, you want to invest your efforts in getting direct play, that way you are not taxing the storage as HEVC transcoding is complex and has many pitfalls at the moment such as losing HDR for example.

[Romiche013 2]

 

 

Glad it's working - have a look at the LG area as there are long running threads on this.

 

Yes, I did after your message yesterday. As I thought my problem was on the server side (with my NAS completely frozen), I looked directly in the Synology topics, and not the WebOS ones.

 

 

In summary, your TV is capable of HD Audio - it has eARC (note, not ARC - eARC must be via HDMI) BUT no player via WebOS (ie internal) appears to be capable of reading HD Audio and passing it OUT to an external eARC enabled amplifier.

 

The Philips may be able to do this.  I know the only confirmed device capable of playing HD-Audio/Atmos is the Nvidia Shield.

 

OK I understand, thanks for the explanation.

Let's hope for a WebOS update to manage this ^^

 

 

 

 

Re the NAS - sorry not my area of experience - but I will say that wherever possible, you want to invest your efforts in getting direct play, that way you are not taxing the storage as HEVC transcoding is complex and has many pitfalls at the moment such as losing HDR for example.

OK, So it won't be necesary to buy a new NAS soon